


A Thing Built of Never

by unsettled



Series: And How it Works is This: [7]
Category: Inception (2010), RocknRolla (2008)
Genre: H/C bingo, Multi, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 12:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1549763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsettled/pseuds/unsettled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightmares are tricky things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Thing Built of Never

**Author's Note:**

> For the April H/c bingo amnesty challenge of a crossover. Kind of nice to revisit this universe, and this could be taken as a way of taking away the sting of 'Like an Ever Skipping Record'.

Yusuf's never been much of one for nightmares, not once he passed adolescence, but he still has them on occasion. More frequently now, after the Fischer job, but still not terribly often. When he does, they're seldom things he can explain or describe – just strange shifting landscapes of color and sound that leave him sick with dread and fear, this formless terror that's all the worse for its intangibility. When he's pulled from them suddenly, he has a tendency to revert to Arabic, a fact he was never really aware of until Johnny comes to stay with them, as Eames is fluent enough to reply back without slipping into English. But the first time he wakes from a nightmare while Johnny is with them, Johnny's confused, worried expression as Eames leans over him, hand around Yusuf's wrist while telling soothing almost lies – it's ok, nothing's there, you're alright – grabs his attention and demands to be soothed itself. It takes him a long moment to remember the words he needs, that Johnny will understand, that will reassure him; for himself, Johnny is reassurance enough - there, whole, not the bloodied, blank eyed creature from his dreams. He doesn't tell them about the shift to dreams with a foothold in life, about the nightmare of Johnny's death, about the few seconds of doubt that he was really awake. There was a pasiv in his dream, and he wonders how Eames manages as well as he does. 

Eames has nightmares more often than Yusuf, nightmares he won't talk about at all. He's silent as he dreams them, silent when he jerks away and half falls out of bed, fumbling at the drawer of the nightstand where his totem lives while he sleeps, silent as the tension drains out of his body. He doesn't talk about them, but Yusuf understands them all the same. Johnny doesn't, not really, but he has learned there's nothing to be gained by asking. Sometimes Yusuf thinks of trying to explain more to Johnny; he thinks Johnny would understand the uncertainty of reality better then most, but in the end it's not his place to do so. Eames takes the most comfort from his totem, from its unchanging tell, but he's not in the least adverse to more conventional comfort, and the best response to Eames' nightmares is to wait until he comes back to bed and pin him between the two of them, Johnny nuzzling at his neck while Eames wraps his fingers around each of their wrists. It's always the same, and sometimes Yusuf wonders if Eames has more than one totem here. 

Johnny has the fewest nightmares of them all, which seems surprising with what Yusuf knows of his life. He sleeps erratically, sometimes so lightly that any movement or sound will wake him, other times so heavily that nothing will wake him, not even when Eames picks him up and carries him to bed from wherever he's passed out. It's tempting, but Yusuf has yet resisted seeing if a kick will wake Johnny when he gets like that. He has the fewest, but they are always the worst. The pained noises, the shivering, the impossibility of waking him, even when his movement and sounds have woken both of them, hovering over him and trying to drag him out of whatever hell he's in, the sheer terror in his eyes when he finally jerks awake; it's all almost as nightmarish to them as any dream. They don't go even once he wakes, whatever he's seen still replaying in his mind while he stares blankly through Yusuf, deaf to Eames' worried questions. They can do nothing to soothe him, and he stays stiff and cold between their bodies until the morning comes, distant for days afterward. 

All of it leads Yusuf to be grateful those are rare occurrences. 

The first time Archy is around for one of Johnny's nightmares, though, is a revelation – and a relief. He wakes to the two of them already trying to waken Johnny, muttering groggily at the disturbance as he joins in, poking Johnny under the ribs. Johnny flinches away, which is more response than either of them get, and a moment later opens his eyes, though they're blank and dark. "Johnny," Archy says, leaning over Eames' back. 

Johnny blinks, blinks again, and stops shivering. "Arch?" he asks, his voice sounding so young, confused. 

"Yeah," Archy says, "come 'ere." Eames huffs but switches places with him, awkwardly, and Johnny goes limp once Archy has him in his arms. "I’ve got you," he says, quietly, and Johnny breathes in one long, shuddering breath before he begins to cry into Archy's shoulder, silent, racking sobs. 

Archy doesn't try to hush him, just holds him, tucked close up against him. Yusuf can't keep away from Johnny like this, and inches closer, his hand rubbing small circles on Johnny's shaking back. Eames huddles against Archy's back, clearly upset. 

"It's ok," Archy tells them, softly. "Sometimes he just needs this. He's alright." 

Yusuf thinks 'alright' is a bit optimistic, as Johnny continues to cry, but there's nothing more he can do but curl up closer to them. He doesn't know who drifts off again first, or if Johnny finishes crying before he falls asleep again, but when he opens his eyes there's daylight peeking around the blinds. He groans and rolls over, only to find he's alone in the bed. 

When he makes his way to the kitchen, he finds an animated Johnny telling some highly improbably story to an engrossed Eames and an amused Archy, who gives him a nod as he pauses in the doorway. Eames pushes a mug his way without even taking his eyes off Johnny, and Johnny grins at Yusuf when he rolls his eyes. It's a far cry from other mornings after Johnny's nightmares, and there aren't words for how grateful he is to Archy right now. 

Maybe alright wasn't too optimistic after all.


End file.
